Ethics panel hands over notes from closed meetings to judge for review

The state’s top ethics panel has turned over to the Denver District Court copies of all the notes and other records made during five secret meetings a judge said were held in violation of Colorado Open Meetings Law. The judge plans to review the notes and decide whether they should be made public in response to an open records request and lawsuit filed by The Colorado Independent.

Judge: Colorado’s top ethics panel broke open meetings law

DENVER — The Colorado Independent Ethics Commission violated the state’s Open Meetings Law when it failed to convene a dozen closed-door meetings held earlier this year according to strict legal requirements, a Denver District Court judge has ruled. Because the ethics panel didn’t follow the law, the court ordered the state’s top ethics panel to “immediately” release all records of any improperly closed meeting, even those the commission claims are protected by attorney-client privilege.

Redacted recordings of Colorado ethics commission closed meetings

Below are the redacted recordings of seven closed-door meetings released by the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission following an open records request by The Colorado Independent that claimed the panel illegally met in secret a dozen times between January and May.…

News Nuggets: 6 August 2009

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TRANSPARENCY: This time it’s a problem in Longmont, with the city council. The rule is pretty basic but apparently hard to follow. Public bodies must decide certain basic matters on the record for public…

State’s top ethics panel agrees during secret enclave: We’re no star chamber

No group empowered to pass judgment wants to think of itself as a “star chamber,” least of all the Colorado panel that, until recently, regularly met for hours on end in secret to formulate ethical decrees. At least that’s…

Recordings: Ethics panel deliberated, reached decisions in secret meetings

The state’s top ethics panel routinely deliberated in private only to emerge with positions ready for adoption in swift, unanimous public votes, audio recordings of the closed-door meetings reveal. The Colorado Independent Ethics Commission also discussed topics in executive session it hadn’t described in detail — or at all, in some cases — as state law requires.

Anatomy of a decision: Ethics panel reaches agreement in secret meeting

What does it look like when a government body debates and makes decisions in a closed-door executive session? Pretty much the same as it would in public — which the law requires — except that only the meeting’s participants get to see what went into the decision.

Ethics panel agrees to release recordings of secret meetings

DENVER — Colorado’s top ethics panel agreed Friday to release unedited audio recordings of two secret meetings and plans to turn over redacted recordings of five additional closed-door meetings conducted earlier this year. The announcement came during a hearing in Denver District Court on a lawsuit filed by The Colorado Independent alleging the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission illegally met behind closed doors a dozen times between January and May.

Judge orders CSU to release recordings of chancellor search meeting

A Larimer County judge this afternoon ordered the Colorado State University Board of Governors to make public further recordings of a closed-door session last month during which it secretly interviewed candidates for the university’s new chancellorship and decided to select its vice chairman Joe Blake as sole finalist for the position.

Judge Stephen Schapanski’s ruling comes in a case brought by The Colorado Independent, the Fort Collins’ Coloradoan and the Pueblo Chieftain, which argued the university violated state open meetings laws in its search for a chancellor.

State’s top ethics panel moves toward more open, transparent procedures

Six weeks after an investigation by The Colorado Independent found repeated violations of the Colorado Open Meetings Law by the Independent Ethics Commission, the panel charged with enforcing ethical standards among public officials across the state has taken dramatic steps toward greater transparency and disclosure.